Science students throughout Frederick County presented 120 projects at this year's middle and high school Science and Engineering Fair on Saturday, March 29. More than 50 professionals from the Frederick community judged the entries.
Of 22 participating high school students, Liv Johannessen of Gov. Thomas Johnson High won the grand prize for her project: "Synthetic Analogs of IGF-1 Receptor Juxtamembrane Domain: Potent Inhibitors of Cancer Cell Growth." First runner up is homeschooled student Mark Pritt for his first-place computer science project: "Virtual Tour Guide: An Application of the Scale-Invariant Feature Transform to Image-Based Landmark Identification." Both will represent Frederick County at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Atlanta, Georgia in May.
Other first-place high school winners in various categories are Catoctin student Taylor Myers for "Effects of Solar Wind Intensity on GPS Inaccuracy," Tuscarora students Shaan Ahmed for "The Effects of a Verbal Placebo on Physical Perception" and Helya Ghaffari for "Localization of the Domestic Cat Silver Coat Color Gene to Chromosome D2 by Linkage Analysis" and Walkersville students Jessica Metcalfe for "Screening for Anti-Cancer Agents That Inhibit Oncogenic Wnt-3A Signaling" and Roy Smith for "The Integration of a Computer into the Automobile to Provide an Enhanced Infotainment Experience."
Second-place high school winners are Frederick student Thomas Shaheen, Linganore student Alexandra Swanson and Tuscarora student Kimberley Anderson.
Third-place high school winners are Catoctin student Grace Wintermyer and Tuscarora student Marvin Gee.
Earning high school honorable mention awards: Catoctin students Emily Bowers, Nathan Lenhart, Ceth Parker, Catherine Squires and Amanda Wobbleton.
Of 98 middle school entries, the middle school grand prize went to Oakdale student Aidan Walker for the second year running; Aidan's project this year was "Inheritance of the CCR5 Delta 32 Mutation, a Family Pedigree." First runner up is Monocacy Middle student Ben Freed for his first-place project: "Biodiesel Production."
Other middle school first-place winners are Banner students Thomas Morgan and Miranda Stambler, Ballenger Creek student Keri Brady-Benzing, Brunswick students Emily Olsen and Catherine Zolbrod, Thurmont students Eric Stone for an individual project and Jacob Cochran and Chris Vaughn for a team project, Urbana student Kelly Henderson, Walkersville students Jordan Alltop, Patricia Dunford and Abigail Hoague, and Windsor Knolls student Cassie Lowell.
Second-place middle school winners are Banner students Carrie Dougher, Stacey Dougher, Alexandra Kindahl and Bronwen Schriml, Brunswick students Victoria Miller and Lynn Termohlen for individual projects and Catelyn Dorsey and Jessica Gabriel for a team project, Oakdale student Christine Fossaceca, Urbana students Hamzah Raza and David Smith, Visitation Academy student Lily Wherry, and Walkersville students Kelsey McCurdy and Megan Mounts.
Third-place middle school winners are Brunswick students Mennwa Abou El-Atta for an individual project and for team projects Brandon Bordwine and Blake Bunn, and the team of Estefani Rivera and Trisha Spesick, Friends Meeting School student Peter Fotopoulos, Thurmont student Michael Robinson, Urbana students Gavin Hawkins and Patrick Smith and Visitation Academy student Katie Kreke.
Middle school honorable mention awards went to Banner student Katie Morgan, Brunswick students Meg Bergman, Katy Cosby and Michele Kettner, Middletown student Avilash Das, Visitation Academy students Sarah Muir and Francesca Pandolfi, and Walkersville students Hanna Martinez and Megan Poole.
First-place art design winners for the booklet cover are Linganore High student Tracy Cowles and Urbana Middle student Emily Umbel.
The annual fair is sponsored through a partnership between Frederick County Public Schools and the Frederick Jaycees.
